How? By turning Kansas into what he calls Exhibit A for how sharp cuts in taxes and government spending can generate jobs, wean residents off public aid and spur economic growth.

"My focus is to create a red-state model that allows the Republican ticket to say, 'See, we've got a different way, and it works,' " Mr. Brownback said in a recent interview.

Coming off the largest tax cut in state history on Jan. 1, Kansas is now on the leading edge of a growing but still largely untested quest among conservative governors to create growth by dramatically revamping state tax codes.

The Brownback experiment is stirring both praise and anxiety among Kansas conservatives even as it helps spark similar overhaul proposals in the GOP-led states of Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma.

The focus on fiscal innovations in the heartland comes as conservatives nationally seek ways to revive the GOP's standing in the aftermath of its stinging election losses last year. Bruised by the continuing budget battles in Washington, where divided government has led to near-gridlock, top Republicans nationally are holding up Kansas and other GOP-dominated states as examples of what the party might accomplish if left to its own devices.

Mr. Brownback recounts how Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reacted when the two talked recently about the work under way in Kansas.

"Mitch said, 'This is exactly the sort of thing we want to do here, in Washington, but can't, at least for now,' " Mr. Brownback said. An aide to Mr. McConnell confirmed the conversation.

In some of the GOP-led states, governors are looking to slash income taxes while increasing state sales taxes, betting that formula will be better for the economy. Others want to turn projected surpluses from a slow but steady recovery in the national economy into tax cuts. Mr. Brownback is making a riskier wager: that sharp cuts in income-tax rates will pay for themselves by igniting growth. The supposition is that a tax cut will spark more growth, hence more revenue from all taxes, including sales taxes.

Mr. Brownback has boasted that his state is set to go head-to-head with Texas, which has neither a personal nor corporate income tax, in luring new businesses and residents. Lawmakers in other states, in turn, are worried about keeping pace with Kansas or other neighboring states.

"If we don't do this, we continue to see the prospect of falling further and further behind," said Phil Berger, the Republican president of the North Carolina Senate.

Undivided Rule

Elections in November left all but 13 states with one-party control of both the legislature and the governor's office, and half of all states with veto-proof legislative majorities.

The overhauls have reignited a long-standing debate over the efficacy of tax cuts in generating economic growth. Proponents point to a record of growth in many of the nine states, such as Texas, Tennessee and Florida, that have no state income tax. Skeptics note that the U.S. economy sputtered for much of the past decade, despite the tax cuts under President George W. Bush.

Either way, economists agree it could be years before clear conclusions can be drawn from the experiments under way in Kansas and other states.

If successful, the combined tax cuts and pared government spending could reignite slumbering state economies and draw in new residents, while positioning Mr. Brownback and governors such as Louisiana's Bobby Jindal and Indiana's Mike Pence for potential White House bids.

But if they fall short, the policies could leave Kansas and other states scrambling to fill big budget holes for education and social services, while driving investors to other states.

The tax gambles under way in the red states contrast sharply with proposals put forward by some Democratic governors. The governors of Minnesota and Massachusetts have proposed raising income taxes while cutting the sales tax. The trend promises to create unusually stark divisions between conservative and liberal states.

Elections in November left all but 13 states with one-party control of both the legislature and the governor's office, the most in decades. Fully half of all states now have veto-proof legislative majorities, making intraparty disagreements the chief potential threat to legislative agendas.

In Kansas, about a dozen centrist Republican lawmakers were targeted by conservatives and voted out of office last year, so Gov. Brownback now enjoys the backing of an overwhelmingly conservative legislature. He is savoring the moment.

"We've got a series of blue states raising taxes and a series of red states cutting taxes," he said in his sunny, cavernous office on the second floor of the Kansas capitol. "Now let's watch and see what happens."

The governor may have few Democrats to worry about—Republicans hold a four-to-one advantage in the state legislature—but his proposals have created fissures in the state's GOP, underscoring that aggressive efforts to pare government and cut taxes can be tough even in a Republican-dominated state.

Mr. Brownback, who made a brief bid for the White House in 2008 while still in the U.S. Senate, signed a steep income-tax cut last year, the first step in what he hopes will be the eventual elimination of the state's income tax, which still generates about 40% of the state's general-fund revenue. He has chopped thousands of state jobs, merged government departments and removed thousands of Kansans from the welfare rolls.

For guidance, Mr. Brownback has leaned on Reagan-era supply-sider economist Arthur Laffer, as well as on Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group funded by the Wichita-based Koch brothers. One of AFP's top consultants, who drafted mock state budgets while working for the group, is now the state's budget director.

But the governor faces an array of challenges. His income-tax cuts, which took the top rate from 6.45% to 4.9% at the start of the year and are targeted to hit 3.5% by 2017, are projected to leave a significant hole in next year's state budget, which starts in July.

The official state economic-forecasting agency predicted last fall a drop of $700 million in revenue in the next fiscal year, equivalent to about 12% of this year's budget, with the decline growing steeper after that. Mr. Brownback's budget proposal for the coming year, released in January, put the figure even higher, at $800 million, or four times what the state spends annually on all its prison facilities.

To make up for the revenue drop, the governor is pushing to preserve what was meant to be a temporary increase in the state sales tax, and to eliminate two popular deductions, including the state write-off for home-mortgage interest payments. Those moves would raise about $600 million next fiscal year. He also wants to transfer more than $100 million from a state highway fund to cover other expenses.

Estimates prepared by the state's legislative research department predict that, even with the steps Mr. Brownback proposes, Kansas is on track to be short of money. The estimates suggest that the state will need to lean on its reserves in the coming years, and lawmakers by 2017 will be forced to make $780 million in spending cuts to prevent a deficit, which isn't allowed under Kansas law. A Brownback aide said the forecasts don't take into account the beneficial impact of the tax cuts.

Still, Mr. Brownback faces stiff opposition to keeping the sales tax at its current rate of 6.3%, not only from the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and many conservative lawmakers, but also from Democrats in the Legislature. The rate is set to fall back to 5.7% in June. A trade group for real-estate agents is lobbying strongly against cutting the mortgage-interest deduction.

At the same time, a recent state-court order in a long-running dispute over state support for the schools said that Kansas was underfunding public schools by more than $400 million a year—a ruling Mr. Brownback and GOP lawmakers are now pushing to overturn.

Mr. Brownback and others believe the tax cuts will eventually pay for themselves by drawing in new businesses and stirring job growth.

The state forecasting body remains unconvinced. In a November report, the group said over the long term, "new economic growth" would likely help offset just "a portion of the revenue loss."

Mr. Brownback and his top aides acknowledge they have taken a leap based partly on faith. "Our out-year forecasts are pretty much guesses," said the governor's revenue secretary, Nick Jordan.

Mr. Brownback said he hopes some new oil exploration in the state will generate unforeseen revenues. Others in his administration point to signs of a turnaround in the aviation industry around Wichita.

Talk of eliminating the income tax altogether has drawn applause from conservatives in the statehouse, who say it will help Kansas compete with low-tax states like Texas. But the proposal has also stirred dissent from centrist ranks of the Republican Party.

Republican critics worry the state's schools and infrastructure will suffer. Others are concerned that an over reliance on the state sales tax may shift too heavy a burden onto the less affluent.

"I fear for what the Republican Party is doing to the country and to Kansas," said Jean Schodorf, who lost her seat in the state Senate last year after decades as a Republican officeholder. "All of what we have built in this state is in jeopardy."

House Speaker Ray Merrick, a veteran GOP lawmaker and Brownback ally, praises the effort to eliminate the state's income taxes as "a bold plan," but says the state has to avoid being rash. "The devil is in the details," he said in an interview. "We don't need to rush this."

Similar strains are showing in other GOP-controlled states looking to follow Kansas' lead.

In Indiana, days after Gov. Pence was sworn into office in January, he proposed reducing the individual income-tax rate to 3.06%, from 3.4%, over two years. The former congressman, who was a member of the House Tea Party caucus, is looking to make a mark for himself after eight years of tax cuts and budget cutting under former Gov. Mitch Daniels.

"Because we can afford to cut taxes for every Hoosier, I believe we should," the new governor said in his first speech to the Legislature.

But leaders in the Legislature, where Republicans have large majorities in the House and Senate, haven't been quick to back his plan. Some question whether it makes sense to cut taxes at a time when the economy still appears fragile and the federal government is passing on new costs to the states.

Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma said his priorities are more focused on ensuring fiscal stability. Nor is he convinced an income-tax cut will provide the promised boost in economic growth. He wants to restore some of the government services cut during the recession, while making investments in transportation and education.

"My encouragement to everyone is to look at long-term sustainability and not just an election cycle," Mr. Bosma said.

Over the past eight years, former Gov. Daniels cut corporate income taxes and began the phaseout of a state inheritance tax. The Legislature required any large surpluses to be split between funding state pensions and a tax rebate.

Like Gov. Pence, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin wants to turn projections of a surplus into a tax cut. On Monday, she proposed cutting the state's top income-tax rate to 5%, from 5.25%, a proposal that is smaller and simpler than one that failed a year ago despite large Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.

"This is not the last tax cut we will see from my administration," Gov. Fallin told legislators on Monday.

Other red states are considering similar proposals or even grander plans to eliminate the income tax.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman is pushing to end the state's income taxes and offset the lost revenue by broadening the sales tax to more items, while Gov. Jindal of Louisiana is discussing an end to the state's personal and corporate income taxes. He is looking to replace the revenue by raising the sales tax and broadening it to more items.

Republicans are weighing similar proposals in North Carolina, where developments will be watched all the more closely considering the state's status as a presidential battleground state. Gov. John Kasich in Ohio, another battleground state, proposed on Monday cutting income taxes by 20% over three years.

In Kansas, Gov. Brownback compares what is happening on the tax front in his and other Republican states to the GOP-led welfare overhauls in Wisconsin and Michigan in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which paved the way for a sweeping national overhaul in Congress in 1995.

"There will be no model for what we want to do nationally until we can examine how several states have done it first," he said.

What I want is a simple 3.5% compound return on my investment since 1966 when I started working, and given the arc of rates of return on relatively conservative investments over that period, the balance would have paid for several other people to get there's as well. Social Security isn't welfare you numbskull. It's a paid up insurance policy with an annuity payout. Threaten that at your political peril.

What you don't get is that at some point, except for a very select few, call them the top 1% or whatever, we all become part of the 47%. The vast majority of Boomers like me are just beginning to get that message. Unless you come up with a better solution that doesn't toss us all off the bus before it reaches its destination, the demographics clearly say you will continue to be the 47% at the national polling booth. Call it what you will, and like it or not,ultimately we all vote in our own self-interest.

I wonder why this same conversation was not had when the Democrats got demolished in 2010?The Republicans should just show the horrific stats - especially for minorities - during Obama's tenure. What's the black unemployment rate for 18-30 year olds again??The Republicans should hire one of the Superbowl advertisers to get their message out. The Democrats can only hide behind their propaganda slogans - shine the light on the truth of their policies - and they don't stand a chance.

Republicans need to run against Washington, government and government employees. The grandees in Washington and Sacramento (for us Califorinians) are despised by all the rest. Forget about the 47% argument. Beat up on Boomtown DC.

"Bene, Don Corleone. I need a man who has powerful friends. I need a million dollars in cash. I need, Don Corleone, all of those politicians that you carry around in your pocket, like so many nickels and dimes. "

Republicans keep pushing the agenda of taking from the middle class and giving to the wealthy. How will that work? There are more members of the middle class than the wealthy. Republicans: think "Custer".

Joel Kotkin has written persuasively on the difference between “red” and “blue” states.

I agree with Gov. Mary Fallin and Gov. Sam Brownback: eliminate state income taxation and cut spending in order to attract investment and job growth. Investment/savings is the driving force for productivity and wealth creation. Over time, these states will have higher population growth than the slow-growth blue states. It’s a good presidential election strategy.

This article should have looked at Michigan. A $1.5 billion democratic governor deficit under Granholm has turned into a $400 million surplus with unemployment down 3 full percentage points. How? Spending cuts, tax cuts, and reduced regulations under the republican governor, Rick Snyder, have done the job. What a surprise. Again.

'Mr. Brownback and his top aides acknowledge they have taken a leap based partly on faith. "Our out-year forecasts are pretty much guesses," said the governor's revenue secretary, Nick Jordan.'

This revealing quote from the article says it all: The GOP is ready to experiment with America on the basis of an extreme ideology of individualism and exclusive service to the wealthiest among us.

It doesn't take much prescience to accurately predict that this complete lack of pragmatism in governance will ultimately make these experiments a dramatic failure all across the nation. At that point, the GOP will have succeeded in illustrating at the states level what was already made clear by the last Presidential election:

A party that doesn't believe any good can come for our fellow citizens from government , has no business being in government, in the first place:-)

It seems to me that Republicans lost the election in part because of the 'red state model'. When are Republicans going to get the message that Americans reject the fact that they are too extreme, too right wing. They are out of the main stream on abortion rights, gun rights, entitlements, taxes and foreign policy. And unless they moderate their views they will continue to lose national elections. Gerrymandering did not help and it is a very short term solution. It is no substitute for an honest attempt to create policies that will win back the middle. The Republican party seems to be in deep denial.

Almost 90 years ago the Russian Reds bailed on the world revolution and rejected Trotsky. Stalin modified the Communist Party's ideology and championed "Socialism in One Country" as the new slogan. Now in the United States, with the Tea Party in disarray, we get "Republicanism in One State."

The truth is that states like Kansas governor Brownbeck and the republican party have put the state on the verge of total systemic collapse. No police, no fire, no ambulances, no prisons, no society.

If that is the goal of republicans, and it sure seems to be that way all accross the country, then we need to ask the Amerian people one question: Do we still value living in our country, because without government, this country cannot stand.

Right now, congressional republicans are working on plans to cut the military, cut social security, cut medicare, cut cut cut cut cut. One would have to surmise that the collapse of our "big" government poses a clear and present danger to our country.

Their big plans are to shift the taxes via sales tax to the common man and then hope somehow, companies will move to Kansas or some other forlorn place to do business. Will not work because they will be all doing the same thing and fighting for the same businesses. However, in the meantime they will all have budget shortfalls that they will pass on to the next governor. Good Luck red states!!!!

the only reason states can cut is because the federal gov picks up the slackif they want to sell austerity at the fed level, let them start with the defense contractors and the subsidized farmerssee how far that "red state model" will work

Why sure, we all know Mississippi's economy is the best. Low taxes mean poor education systems, crumbling urban areas and flight of college students, leading to lower incomes and poor economies. The states with the highest per capita incomes are those with either a lot of college grads, or a lot of oil. Not low taxes. More at www.michiganfuture.org.

Oh yes. Millions will just give up California's coasts and atmosphere, or New York City's restaurants and theaters and diversity and vibrant life, to flock to places full of churches, gun ranges, Elvis museums, horse manure, minstrel shows, shot up stop signs, and county fairs where racing TransAms is still in vogue. Yes sirree. I can already see the multitudes just packing their belongings in a U-Haul and flocking to Kansas just to save a few thousands a year in state tax. What a joke. Is this the best the GOP can come up with ? A reiteration of the same Koch brother and various conservative "think" tanks nonsense ? It looks like 2016 will be a breeze for the Dems again.

As Bill Clinton once said (which I'm sure he regrets), it is easier to shrink business (recession) than grow it (opportunities). And that is the crux of the Left's opposition, they hath no confidence in themselves or anyone else except Government.

The new middle class, college graduates for the last 4 (Obama) years, know exactly what your model middle class bears for them, Paula: low income to no income. That's the Democratic model for the middle class.

I hate to break this to you, but lowering the state income tax rate (which in Kansas is a FLAT tax rate), doesn't take anything from the middle class to give to the wealthy - it cuts taxes across the board. Stop repeating the same liberal talking points about tax breaks for the wealthy, blah blah blah.

Isn't it funny how the private sector just seems to work fine without a nanny-state bureaucrat telling it what to do? People would do well to remember Sir Winston Churchill's famous quote about free enterprise:

"Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon."

Conceal and carry states have lower crime rates and the FBI statistics show more people are killed by hammers than rifles. Go protest at Home Depot or Lowes.

Taxes

Republicans want people to have jobs, earn their own money, keep some of it, and pay taxes appropriately. Democrats want refundable tax credits, to take what people earn, and waste a lot of money on duplicative, corrupt porgrams that do not work and encourage the wrong behavior.

Foreign Policy

I'm not even sure what Republican foreign policy is anymore, but committing troops to wars without a goal isn't at the top (nor nation building anymore). Democrats tend to assume our soldiers are gun toting bullies with no morals and are the bad guy, when they protect freedoms for even our enemies. Democrats think they can persuade everyone and hold hands. The UN works real well. Obama and his cabinet allow extremists to take control and demonize the real democracies that give women some real rights (see Libya, Egypt, and then lool at Israel) Hillary and Obama let those four men die in Benghazi.

Paula, you can count on the guardians of Republican pureness of thought and orthodoxy, the Rush Limbaughs, Glenn Becks, and Sean Hannitys of this world, to keep the GOP flock on track for ultimate self-immolation:-)

There is a big difference between cutting services too deep and having to restore them, such as in Kansas, and in having to cut services entirely because you have no money to pay for them and because no one will loan you a nickel, such as in California, IL, MA, NY.

You know, it seems to me that California with its government spending mania and its uncontrollable state debt crisis, along with a 9.8% unemployment rate and the exodus of its people and businesses to places like Texas (a no state income tax red state), is a lot closer to "collapse" than Kansas. Democrats are always blaming republicans for unrealistic fear and hysteria about things that haven't happened yet, and yet here you are, calling Kansas' new tax plan the end of society. Ironic, isn't it.

To start with we have, Research Triangle, Georgia Tech, Agnes Scott College, Clemson University, College of William and Mary, Emory College, and Duke University, then there is the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

"For every person moving from California or New York to Kansas, there will be 50 moving in the opposite direction. And a lower tax rate will not help one whit."

Actually no, not exactly true. Most will move away due to incredibly high cost of living as compared to anywhere else. Why move their if you can find just as good as 'coast's' and 'atmosphere' in Charleston, Atlanta or Dallas? and a whole heck of a lot cheaper.

You obviously do not know what your talking about and/or have never been anywhere in your life. You can find anything you can find in California or New york pretty much anywhere else. Some of the most modern cities are now in the South.

" they hath no confidence in themselves or anyone else except Government."

You guys really need to get off this makers / takers/ moochers kick. Just because someone does not have your political views doesn't mean they are less than you. The world as not as simple as Fox "news" tells you.

Are you saying he sought to shrink business because it was easier? That's daft. If you're going to reference the Clinton Administration in an article about budget deficits, you might recall he left office with the federal budget in surplus.

If Texas is such a no-tax paradise, why are so many Texans relocating to Colorado? Just in the last day, a court ruled that Texas does not provide the constitutionally required education for its kids.

Government costs money. Forget the ideologues and consider just what government programs and tasks you want performed. Then pay for those. All this darned ideological anti-government claptrap accomplishes nothing. One of these days, the tea partiers will be known for being the cheapskates they truly are.

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